[Web4lib] Resources? -- Web Standards and Semantic Markup

Tim Spalding tim at librarything.com
Tue May 1 16:50:18 EDT 2007


Without opening up a can of worms—one that's been opened before—I'd
encourage you to acquire competence (or excellence) in the field of
web design, and consider standards to be partially aligned with that,
but hardly the same thing.

"Web standards" have, after all, no normative force. What we do is
judged by quality, cost and speed. The degree of importance some
ascribe to "web standards" can bear little relation to reality. For
example, the overwhelming majority of the top 100 trafficked sites on
the web do not validate—often not by a long shot—and not because
they're stupid. (Google's not stupid, at least.) And, in my humble
experience, "standards" language on a resume is like certifications,
at least irrelevant and often a contraindication of talent and
creativity.

Tim

On 5/1/07, Chris Gray <cpgray at library.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> Another article worth reading is Steve Champeon's "The Secret Life of
> Markup".  He is another co-author of the book glasshaus book I mentioned
> in connection with Owen Briggs.
>
> "The idea of presentation, and its separation from content and the rest,
> is perhaps the most widely misunderstood but one of the most important
> ideas in Web and document design."
>
> Chris
>
> Andrew Darby wrote:
> > There's oodles of information out there, but you could look at the Web
> > Standards site, and specifically the "Learn" section:
> >
> > http://www.webstandards.org/learn/
> >
> > It's not as fleshed out as one might like, but there's a set of FAQs
> > and numerous links under "External Resources."
> >
> > On 5/1/07, Jonathan Blackburn <jblackbu at mailer.fsu.edu> wrote:
> >> Hi Everybody,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I am a library web developer looking for suggestions for some solid
> >> "introductory" resources for learning about the importance AND use of
> >> web
> >> standards -- and specifically "semantic markup" --  in web design.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I am providing a GA here in the library w/ a list of resources to begin
> >> reading related to a project he will be working on this summer.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> (E.G. maybe, a set of intro sources he can review over about 8-12
> >> hours -
> >> along w/ some more permanent reference materials he can refer to over
> >> the
> >> course of the project.)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> If you have some nice (preferably web-based) resources you would like to
> >> recommend, I would greatly appreciate it.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Jon :-)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Jonathan Blackburn
> >>
> >> Web Development Librarian
> >>
> >> Florida State University Libraries
> >>
> >> AIM/E-mail: jblackbu at mailer.fsu.edu
> >>
> >> Phone: 850.645.6986
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Web4lib mailing list
> >> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> >> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >>
> >
> >
>
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